Pig Trail Harley-Davidson/Buell's Rider’s Edge® instructors have received the most comprehensive and thorough training in the business. As a New Rider Course student you will receive the most classroom and range time of any civilian program in the country. Class sizes are limited to 12 students. More one on one time in the classroom and on the riding range with our instructors means you’ll graduate with the confidence you’ll need to make your motorcycling adventure come true.

Every student will have the opportunity to train on the exciting Buell® Blast® motorcycle, which offers course-friendly features, such as an adjustable seat, hidden muffler, and low center of gravity. You’ll learn how to ride from the best trained instructors, on the best maintained bikes and using the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s curriculum supplemented by materials and activities developed by Harley-Davidson.

Make this year the year you finally take that first important step into the exciting world of motorcycling, and learn how to ride from Pig Trail Harley-Davidson/Buell.

Want some encouragement to help you to make that decision to take the course than just read the following story submitted by one of our very own Rider's Edge® instructors.

Uh-oh. I thought to myself. He’s not bluffing. I’m actually going to have to get on that thing and try to ride it. I was a 12 year old girl, standing next to a little 50cc dirt bike. I’d been a passenger on the back of my dad’s bike literally since babyhood, and this was the next step. My grandfather had been trained as a motorcycle scout in WWII. He’d taught my father to ride. Now it was my turn. I wasn’t sure I was ready to live up to all that tradition.

“Um, I think I’d better run to the bathroom first.” I stalled. “Sure, go ahead.” he replied. I headed inside and hid in the bathroom. That worked for about ten minutes. Then there was a knock on the door. “Ready?” My dad asked. “Yeah, sure.” I bluffed, my heart pounding. We went back outside, and he revealed the mysteries of the kick starter to me.
I got on, experimented with the friction zone of the clutch as he suggested, and then when I thought I had it figured out, released the clutch slowly and let the engine pull the bike forward. Oops - it was faster than I expected. Startled, I put my feet up on the pegs and I was riding!

Fast forward four years. My dad and I were riding along Hwy 16 E. I saw his right turn signal come on ahead of me. What on Earth is he doing? I wondered. Our turn wasn’t for a couple more miles. He pulled off into a churchyard, and I followed. “What’s up?” I asked.
“Do you want to trade? Come sit on the Goldwing and see if you can reach the ground.”
I was only 5’6” then (I still am), but my dad is not much taller, so I thought I’d give it a try. It must have looked a little strange to see 130 pounds of girl on 700+ pounds of dressed-out touring bike, but my feet touched the ground and my hands reached the handlebars, so I gave my dad a thumbs-up and took off. It didn’t occur to me to worry about the power, size, and weight of the bike. I’d learned a few things since that 50cc trail bike. These days, as a certified MSF/Rider’s Edge Motorcycling Instructor, I try to pass that learning on to my students.

I’d say a good 60% of our new riders are women who are either tired of being passengers and want their own bike, or who have never ridden but want to try something exciting. I hear the same questions and concerns over and over, “Won’t that bike be too heavy or tall for me?” and “Isn’t that too much power for a beginning rider?” or “Does it take a lot of strength to handle one?”. Probably the most common worry is “What if I drop it- will I be able to pick it up?”

The first thing I tell people is that the sport of riding is at least 80% mental. It’s more a question of skill and finesse, of thinking ahead to the next curve and the next intersection, than a question of physical strength. If your feet can rest flat on the ground and your hands and toes can comfortably reach the controls, then you can ride it. Once the bike is up and moving, weight and size become mostly irrelevant. Remember, you only have to hold the bike up at a stop - otherwise, it holds itself up with it’s own power and momentum. But if you do drop it, the correct method for picking up a full-dress touring bike was invented by a 5’2” woman.

She demonstrates it at rallies all over the USA. I often tease that women have an advantage over the guys if we should drop our bike - five or six nice gentlemen will usually run over and offer to help out! As far as power goes, I think that if you as a new rider see an 1100cc cruiser that just screams “Me, me, pick me!”, you should go ahead and get it. Just because you have the engine power to go blisteringly fast doesn’t mean you have to use that power before you feel ready.
In my opinion, the most important hurdle a female rider has to deal with is customizing her bike to fit her physique. Let’s face it - quite a few bikes are built to fit the average man, not the average lady. A lot of newer riders don’t realize that factors such as seat height, size & shape of handlebars, and the setup of the controls make a big difference in how pleasant or difficult that bike is to ride.

If the bike you want is a bit tall for you, don’t forget that you often have the option of lowering the seat height, the suspension, getting differently-sized tires, or even getting boots with thicker soles. Probably the best way to overcome any concerns you have about riding is to educate yourself by taking the Rider’s Edge class at Pig Trail HD. If you’ve always wanted to try motorcycling, there’s no better time than now. We look forward to seeing you!